Committee on the Rights of the Child

Seventy-fourth session

16 January-3 February 2017

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the second periodic report of the Central African Republic

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 15 October 2016. The Committee may take up any aspect of children’s rights set out in the Convention during the dialogue with the State party.

Part I

1.Please indicate how the bills on domestic violence and victim assistance are in line with the Convention. Please provide information about the bill on child protection and the draft child protection policy.

2.Please provide information about the operation of the National Committee to monitor application of the Convention, the allocation of the financial, material and human resources necessary for its effective operation, including at the regional and local levels, and the specific and in-service training provided for its staff. Please indicate whether the Committee has a mandate to deal with and refer cases involving children.

3.Please indicate what measures have been taken to put into practice free and immediate civil registration, and what measures have been taken to establish registration centres, ensure administrative diligence, and raise awareness of the importance of registration. Please also provide information on proposed measures to promote and ensure the registration of children born during armed conflict.

4.Please indicate what measures have been taken, in law and in practice, to eliminate all forms of violence against children, particularly domestic violence and abuse, including sexual abuse and corporal punishment, and the practice of witchcraft, particularly involving children with albinism and children with disabilities.

5.Please explain what measures have been taken to combat mortality among children under 5 and maternal mortality. Please indicate the measures taken to prevent attacks on health centres and their use by national security forces, armed groups and international forces, and to ensure the availability of health-care provision, including in enclaves or zones under the control of non-State armed groups.

6.Please provide information on the measures taken to guarantee free and universal education, particularly for children living in enclaves, and to reopen schools during the transition period. Please indicate the measures taken to prevent attacks on schools and their use by national security forces, armed groups and international forces.

7.Please provide information on measures taken or proposed to combat the economic exploitation of children, including child labour in mining and agriculture. Please specify the measures taken to combat the trafficking of children inside the country for the purposes of forced labour.

8.Please indicate the measures taken to tackle forced prostitution and the sexual exploitation of children. Please indicate the measures taken to ensure the protection and rehabilitation of, and the provision of medical, psychosocial and legal support to, child victims, including child victims of sexual abuse by international military forces.

9.Please provide information on the measures taken to guarantee the provision of basic services to child refugees and internally displaced children. Please indicate the measures taken to enable the return of child refugees and internally displaced children, while guaranteeing their right to a minimum standard of living and access to health care and education.

10.Please indicate the measures taken to protect the rights of children under the framework of the peace agreements and the international security and stabilization missions. Please also provide information on the measures taken to implement the agreement signed in May 2015 to avoid the recruitment of children by State-sponsored and non-State armed groups, and to allow for their demobilization, rehabilitation and reintegration.

11.With regard to pygmy children, please provide information on the measures taken to guarantee their civil registration and effective access to education and health-care services, in order to reduce infant mortality and malnutrition, and to combat forced labour by such children.

12.Please provide information on the measures taken to guarantee the effective separation of children and adults in all detention centres, including short-stay detention facilities and police and gendarmerie holding cells; on measures for alternatives to detention and measures for social reintegration; and on access to education and health care for children in detention.

Part II

13.The Committee invites the State party to provide a brief update (no more than three pages) on the information presented in its report regarding:

(a)New bills and laws, and their respective regulations;

(b)New institutions and their mandates, and institutional reforms;

(c)Recently introduced policies, programmes and action plans, and their scope and financing;

(d)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments.

Part III

Data, statistics and other information, if available

14.Please provide consolidated budget information for the past three years on budget lines allocated for children and social sectors, particularly health, education and social services, expressing each budget line as a percentage of the total national budget and gross national product, and indicating geographical distribution.

15.Please provide updated statistical data for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, ethnicity, national origin, religion, geographic location and socioeconomic status, in relation to:

(a)Birth registration;

(b)The number of cases of abuse and violence against children, including all forms of corporal punishment, with additional information on the type of assistance given to child victims and the follow-up provided, including prosecution of the perpetrators and the sentences handed down in the State party;

(c)The number of investigations into alleged cases of sexual violence, including rape and incest, and the outcome of trials, including information on sentences imposed on perpetrators, and redress and compensation given to victims;

(d)The number of cases of female genital mutilation/excision, including information on the follow-up provided, the penalties for perpetrators and redress and compensation offered to victims;

(e)The number of cases of child marriage, including information on follow-up in such cases;

(f)The prevalence of underweight and stunting in infants and children under 5, and the mortality rate for children under 5;

(g)The number of children infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS;

(h)The number of children recruited by State-sponsored and non-State armed groups.

16.Please provide data for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnicity and geographic location, on the number of children with disabilities:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)In institutions;

(c)Attending regular primary schools;

(d)Attending regular secondary schools;

(e)Attending special schools;

(f)Not enrolled in school;

(g)Abandoned by their families.

17.Please provide data in percentages for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, religion, geographic location and ethnicity, on school enrolment rates of the relevant age groups in primary and secondary schools.

18.Please provide data for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, ethnicity and type of crime, on:

(a)The number of children who have allegedly committed a crime and who have been reported to the police;

(b)The number of children who have been sentenced, and on the types of punishment or penalties handed down for the offences they have committed, and on the length of deprivation of liberty; and the percentage of children in conflict with the law who have benefited from alternatives to detention;

(c)The number of children detained in centres for children in conflict with the law and children detained in adult facilities;

(d)The number of children in pretrial detention and the average length of such detention;

(e)Reported cases of ill-treatment and torture of children during their arrest and detention.

19.Please provide detailed information on the cases of the 1,422 people who have reported violations of the rights of children to the National Committee to monitor application of the Convention, including information on the victims, disaggregated by age, sex, ethnicity, national origin, geographic location and socioeconomic status; information on the perpetrators; information on legal and/or administrative proceedings and their outcome; and information on the support provided to child victims. Please provide updated information covering the past three years.

20.Please provide the Committee with an update of any data in the report which may have been superseded by more recent data collected or affected by new developments.

21.In addition, the State party is invited to specify the issues affecting children that it considers to have priority with regard to the implementation of the Convention.